We’re Done Too
The Students Walked Out in Protest
Our cover this week is a direct quote from Peter Kruyt, the Chair of Concordia’s Board of Governors, who controls the highest governing body at the university.
He was talking to students when he said it, telling us he’s done listening to our concerns and that, while his words have power, ours do not.
Peter Kruyt and his Board—who were called to resign last year following their unilateral and controversial dismissal of former president Judith Woodsworth—have absolute power to make sweeping changes that directly affect your experience at this school.
They flexed this power last week by cutting down undergraduate student representation on the Board to a single student at a table of 25, though undergraduates make up over 35,000 of the 53,000-person Concordia community.
At the meeting, the four current undergraduate representatives came to the table with an aim to foster “respectful dialogue” with our administration and to try to find alternatives and maintain student presence in the boardroom. They were shot down, one by one, and you can read all about it on pages 4 and 5.
Then, when Concordia Student Union President Lex Gill challenged the Chair to justify his decision to make one of the most important votes in Concordia governance history a secret ballot, Kruyt repeated the words you now read on our cover. “We’re done, we’re done, we’re done.” As in: no discussion, no justification, no dice.
http://thelinknewspaper.ca/u/julia/6ca.cover2.jpg
We’re done talking about an unprecedented real estate “partnership” with the administration that would see the Faubourg Building turned into a student centre.
We’re done considering it as a viable option for student space issues on campus, as it doesn’t adequately address our physical or financial needs—not to mention that many elements in the 25-year contract between students and the administration were extremely problematic.
Students are done being fed the line that this ugly, crumbling lemon is a “great investment,” while it contradicts the ultimate goal to find autonomous space downtown that is governed by students and is fully dedicated to their projects.
And though the Student Centre User Committee had been putting pressure on the CSU executive to take a decision, Council unanimously rejected this option—a deal that had been six years in the making. Read about it on page 6.
We’re done being belittled on a Board of Governors that has been mandated to fix its own internal problems and bad governance but has evidently failed to do so.
Especially now that multi-stakeholder discussions were so disrespectfully cut out of the process, students have realized that the “culture of contempt” at Concordia—a term that was diagnosed over the summer by an outside report on our school’s governance structure—is not going away as long as Kruyt is at the head of the table.
As Gill told The Link following the meeting (page 9): “When you’re closing people out of boardrooms, out of classrooms, fine: we’ll meet you on the fucking street.”
So, if we’re done negotiating through the legitimate channels that have silenced us, and we’ve tried to have a civil dialogue to no avail—what other options do we have? Read page 18 to get one student’s perspective.
We’re done waiting around for tuition and academic fees to rise without meaningful dialogue between students, the administration and the government of Quebec.
Following the Board of Governors meeting, 1,000 balloons were set free by the CSU in the Hall Building in a playful attempt to get the message out to Concordia that “we can’t let tuition fees go through the roof.” Read about it on page 11.
It is anticipated that nearly 30,000 future students will be unable to attend university over the next few years as a result of these increases.
The Mob Squad—a unit of direct action that’s been spearheaded by the CSU to mobilize students around tuition increases—is also kicking into full gear this week, starting to get serious about both recruitment, the student movement and direct action. You can like them on Facebook to stay informed.
We’re done, we’re done, we’re done—but we’re also just getting started. Now is the time to decide whether your words and voices matter, too.
